Reuters: Private Equity: Poll shows bulk of CP Rail shareholders want change

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Poll shows bulk of CP Rail shareholders want change Mar 16th 2012, 20:31 Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:31pm EDT * Poll shows 91 pct of CP shareholders want change * 73 pct favor Pershing Square's position * Shareholders to vote at CP's annual meeting May 17 TORONTO, March 16 (Reuters) - A poll of about a third of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd shareholders found that 91 percent of them want management change at Canada's No. 2 railroad, which is the target of a shake-up campaign by activist investor Pershing Square Capital Management. The survey, released on Friday by consulting firm Brendan Wood International, also reported that 73 percent of shareholders favor the position of Pershing Square, which has launched a proxy battle to replace six CP directors and the company's chief executive. The results of the poll, which Brendan Wood said was not commissioned, form part of an index that monitors confidence in 2,000 public companies worldwide. Pershing's choice to replace CP Chief Executive Fred Green is former Canadian National Railway CEO Hunter Harrison. Pershing Square, which owns 14.2 percent of CP, says it can improve the company's operating efficiency. It has promised to better the railroad's operating ratio, which measures the percentage of revenue needed to run the company, to 65 percent from the current 81.3 percent. CEO Fred Green has promised the company will reach 70-72 percent in 2014. A shareholder vote on Pershing Square's proposals is scheduled at CP's annual meeting in Calgary on May 17. "The only vote that counts is at the annual meeting," CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said in an emailed statement. Previous polls have placed Canadian Pacific near the bottom of the transportation index for shareholder confidence, Brendan Wood said. The survey results are based on interviews with shareholders who represent about a third of CP's shares and a "broad cross section of the base", the consulting firm said in a release. CP's shares added 35 Canadian cents to end at C$77.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday. (Reporting By Susan Taylor Editing by Peter Galloway) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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